Wolverhampton set to celebrate 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's visit
A day of celebration will take place in Wolverhampton tomorrow to mark the 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's visit to the city – and people are being encouraged to bring along a tipple for a royal toast.
The Duke of Gloucester last week unveiled a plaque in Queen Square to commemorate the historic occasion ahead of the actual anniversary, November 30, which sees a series of special events spread across the day.
They include a parade by the military and West Midlands Fire Service through the city centre converging at the statue in Queen Square where a re-enactment of the royal visit by Central Youth Theatre will take place.
A toast will be made at precisely 1.50pm, to mark 150 years, when the public will be invited to raise a glass to Victoria, Albert and the city of Wolverhampton as a whole.
Later, at 5pm, a multi-faith service of celebration is taking place at St Peter's Church, before a dinner for the Mayor's community award winners.
Victoria's visit to Wolverhampton in 1866 was her first since the death of her beloved Prince Albert five years earlier and it stunned the nation.
The Queen, an avid diarist, recorded her own account of the visit in her journal, revealing how her knees were shaking with fear and how she was so overcome by the city's welcome she struggled to retain her emotions.
The national press were snooty of her choice of Wolverhampton - ahead of bigger, more prestigious cities and towns - but the diary reveals how the city held a special place in her heart after pulling out all the stops to mark the occasion.
She wrote: "Strange being among so many and& yet feeling so alone, without my beloved Husband!
"Everything so like former great functions and yet so unlike."
"Felt much moved and nearly broke down when I saw the dear name & the following inscriptions 'Honour to the memory of Albert the Good', — 'the good Prince', — 'His works follow him', and so many quotations from Tennyson.
"The arrangements on the spot where the statue stand were extremely good & the decorations very pretty."
She described the journey back to the station, having asked that the carriage make a detour so she could see some of the town, and was touched by people's response to her, despite their poverty.
She wrote of 'wretched-looking slums' and people 'all in tatters' but said 'they were most loyal & demonstration, there was not one unkind look or dissatisfied expression, every one, without exception, being kind."
